Re: Re: beta
by escritoireazul
Summary: Quinn almost broke up with Sam the first time he told her she needed to consider lube in her guy slash.  Sam, Quinn, Lauren, Puck, Artie gen, background Lauren/Puck, Sam/Santana, Sam/Quinn


Title: Re: Re: beta

Author: escritoireazul

Characters/Pairings: Lauren Zizes/Noah Puckerman, Sam Evans/Santana Lopez, Sam Evans/Quinn Fabray, Sam Evans, Quinn Fabray, Lauren Zizes, Santana Lopez, Noah Puckerman, Artie Abrams

Rating: 13+

Written for: Sort of written for this glee_fluff_meme prompt (summarized): Quinn and Sam still beta each other's fanfic even after "Comeback".

Setting: After "Blame It on the Alcohol"

Author's note: This is a transformative work of fiction for the television show Glee. The prompt specified that the prompter was thinking about Sam writing bad self-inserts and Quinn horrible slash. I went a little afield of that, and from the beta reading only, so I'm not entirely sure it is really a fill.

Summary: Quinn almost broke up with Sam the first time he told her she needed to consider lube in her guy slash.

#

I.

It's really freaking awkward because they haven't really talked in, like, forever. (Okay, it's been two weeks, but every time Sam thinks about it, he feels sort of sick. Unless he's hooking up with Santana at the same time. Not that he thinks about Quinn then, and if Santana ever found out, she would cut off his balls. Fuck.) After Rachel's party, Quinn won't even really look at him anymore. So yeah, trying to talk to her is really freaking awkward.

(Also a little scary, and not just because Santana would take his balls for that too. Ever since the party, Quinn's been hanging out with Lauren a lot, and though mostly Lauren glares like she hates them all, he sorta has this idea that she will break him in half if he hurts Quinn. How the hell that happened, he doesn't know. Probably something happened during those days when all they did was drink and dance and sing and puke and drink some more, but all of that is this blurry half memory.)

The thing is, he's finished his first story since they broke up and Quinn is the best beta reader he's ever had. Ever. She never makes fun of him for all the ways he spells words wrong and she's really nice about it when she calls him on some of the self-inserts - _Sam, sweetie, I am pretty sure the Na'vi don't play football or have glee clubs._ But she's smiling while she says it, and if she laughs when he tells her, quite seriously, _Singing is the universal language_, she's not really laughing at him, because he's laughing a little too and she gives him the sweetest kiss right before she makes him change it - and she just makes him better.

(Shit. He sort of feels like crying and sort of feels like punching things and he closes the Word document and shuts down the computer with a vicious stab at the power switch and goes to shoot zombies for awhile and tries not to think about how wonderful Quinn is.)

II.

Sam can't just ignore his story, no matter how many times he kicks the wall or how long he plays video games or how hard he hits the heavy bag. He's really kind of proud of it - it's the longest thing he's ever written, and it's an epic crossover, too, Kirk and the Enterprise and the Na'vi, and it's the first time he's really managed an ensemble piece where no one gets forgotten or ignored - and it's been hard enough not to tell Santana all about it.

(He's pretty sure she'd take his balls for writing fanfic, too, so okay, maybe it wasn't really that hard not to tell. But he really wants to talk about it.)

He finally gets a chance to talk to Quinn after rehearsal one day. Santana kisses him hard and takes off with Brittany, who is really upset about some cat and some bird and he doesn't understand the emergency. Mr. Schue wants to talk to Finn, so he's not lumbering around behind Quinn like some over protective Frankenstein monster. Yeah, Quinn and Lauren walk out together, which means that Puck will probably join them anytime, but it's the closest he's seen Quinn to alone in days and he really needs her help.

He hurries to walk on her other side - and if that keeps her between him and Lauren, maybe he'll get to say what he needs to say before she goes all over-protective on him - and Quinn glances at him, her mouth slightly open. She looks away fast, and he starts to feel sick again, because she kissed Finn with that mouth and lied to Sam with that mouth and he still wants to make her smile at him.

"I need to talk to you," he says in a rush.

"Okay." Her voice is low and she stares resolutely forward, still walking quickly toward the parking lot. "Talk."

"Could we maybe talk alone?" That probably came out wrong. Words are tricky, and he fails at them a lot.

Quinn stops. Sam and Lauren both stop too, but a couple steps later, so when they turn to look at Quinn, they're facing each other.

"You jerking her around?" Lauren says, her eyes narrowed and her voice very, very calm. There's no way she doesn't know that's actually scarier than if she started yelling, especially when she widens her stance and squares her shoulders at him. He knows what people look like right before they start swinging.

"No!" Sam pushes his hair off his face, tugging it a little in frustration. "I just need to talk." He looks at Quinn, hoping she'll cut him a break.

"What do you want to talk about?" Quinn crosses her arms over her chest and actually taps her foot, like she can't believe he's trying to take up her time. He would buy it, too, but her eyes look sad. That makes him want to hit whoever made her sad, except he can't really hit himself or her or Santana.

He glances at Lauren and then steps closer to Quinn, trying to keep his voice low. "I have this - thing. I need you to look at. Please?"

"What are you talking about?"

"This - thing I - made," he tries again.

"What?" Then, because Quinn is very, very smart, she gets it, and she smiles. "A thing for me to look at."

"Yes." He grins back, relieved.

"Okay, Q, do you want me to leave you alone?" Lauren asks. Her voice isn't so low and flat, and Sam thinks maybe she's amused. "I can't really tell what vibe you're putting off here."

"No, it's okay." She looks at Sam, really looks at him right in the eye for the first time since they broke up in the hallway, and he remembers what it felt like to have all her attention turned on him, like the sun came out and filled him with light. "Email me, I'll look at it." She reaches for him, but stops before she touches him.

Her skirt swings a little at his legs when she walks past and she and Lauren head on to the parking lot.

III.

Sam sends the email as soon as he gets home. When not even a huge blow-up on fandom_wank can keep his mind off Quinn, he grabs his headphones and runs until his legs ache and his chest burns and he can't run another step, and then he pushes on another couple miles anyway.

IV.

Sam is certainly _not_ unnecessarily refreshing his email just in case Gmail isn't showing him new email for some unknown reason when the IM from Quinn comes in. He stares at the box for a second before he lets himself read it.

GetaQ: I really like it, Sam.  
>SamIam: yea?<br>GetaQ: Yeah. The plot is very exciting, and I was really worried during the ending.  
>SamIam: thx<br>GetaQ: I think you need another beta.

It feels like she slaps him, and he doesn't know what to say.

GetaQ: I'm still working on my beta, but you know I'm not that familiar with Star Trek. :D Maybe someone else should check the characterization?

_Oh._ His breath whooshes out in a sigh when the relief hits.

SamIam: don't no anoyne to ask  
>GetaQ: brb<p>

She doesn't say anything else for almost five minutes, but that's okay, because Sam's so glad she likes his story - and so happy to be talking to her again, no matter how he tries to ignore that part - that he turns up his music and does a little dance until his mom knocks and tells him to keep it down and how's his homework coming, does he need any help?

By the time he dodges her questions and reassures her he's fine, the IM screen is flashing.

GetaQ: I have a friend who's willing to read it for characterization. Can I send it to her?

Sam thinks about that for a second. He's not exactly ashamed about writing fanfic, but he's already pushing his popularity being in glee club and Santana hates when he geeks out about the things he loves, he's pretty sure writing fanfic - and having Quinn beta - is just another reason for her to bust his balls.

He wants the story to be good, though. It's his first big bang and he's always nervous about posting fic anyway.

SamIam: k  
>SamIam: who is it?<br>GetaQ: Don't worry about that. I won't tell her who you are and I won't tell you who she is. She'll send her beta to me and I'll send it to you.

That's fair, he guesses.

SamIam: thx  
>GetaQ: Not a problem.<br>GetaQ: Will you still beta for me, too? I've got a new story too.  
>SamIam: suer<br>GetaQ: Thank you! :) I'll email it now.

V.

Holy shit, Quinn's story is really fucking hot and has a sex scene between two dudes that could actually happen.

(The first time he beta read for her, they almost broke up when he told her it was good, he liked it, but the sex between the guys was completely unrealistic and at the very least she needed to think about lube.

She threw a book at him and frowned and then when she stopped being pissed and they talked through some suggestions, she turned on him, a smile quirking her lips, and asked how he was so familiar with gay sex.

_The internet has everything_ he said and kissed her.)

VI.

From: SamIam  
>To: GetaQ<p>

RE: Firebrand (Toby/Lucas, Pretty Little Liars)

nice one, quinn! i'll have the beat this weekend.

VII.

Friday on his way to lunch, Lauren grabs his arm and pulls him into the closet where the AV Club stores their equipment. She stands between him and the door, her arms crossed over her chest. Her glasses glint a little under the overhead lights, and he braces himself because he has no idea what she wants.

Then she grins. "That crossover of yours is _epic_," she says and for a second, he forgets how to breathe, because he is not expecting anyone at school to know about his story. It takes him a second to realize two very important things: a) she likes it and b) she must be Quinn's secret friend. "I freaking love how you let Sulu have an adventure."

"Thank you." Sam shifts his weight from one foot to the other, a little awkward under the unexpected face to face praise.

"Do you have any other fic?" she asks. He grins and nods and tells her about his account and his livejournal. Maybe he wouldn't if he took a second to think about it, but it's been so long since he got to geek out about something he loves in person and she seems really excited about it.

She has a fanfic livejournal too and she tells him the name and says she's looking forward to reading his fic. They talk about his story for a few minutes, and she rolls her eyes when they talk about how Quinn doesn't appreciate a good sci-fi story and then Lauren checks the time and tells him to get the hell out.

She also checks to make sure the hallway's clear before she kicks him out because she's got plans for the room, which he appreciates. No need for this to get back to Santana. He doesn't want to lie to her, and as long as she's not specifically asking him about it, he's not.

(He laughs a little as he heads to lunch, because dude, she might try to be subtle, but there's no way Lauren didn't kick him out because she's about to hook up with Puck. No freaking way.)

VIII.

He's with Santana when the text comes in, so he doesn't see it until late, but apparently, he's passed some sort of sci-fi geek test without even knowing it, because Artie invites him over for movie night.

Luckily, Santana's already got plans with Brittany that night - which makes sense when he thinks about it - so eventually he texts back a _sure, I'm in_.

IX.

Movie night at Artie's surprises the hell out of him. Artie's there, of course, and Lauren, which is only a surprise because he didn't know they were friends. Puck's there, and that's just weird. Quinn's there, too, and he gets all tense, because if Santana finds out about this, it won't be good. He's not cheating on her, he would never, ever do _that_, but it feels a little wrong anyway.

But Quinn sits on the couch with Lauren and Puck - Lauren tugs on her hair and tells her she's going to learn to appreciate sci-fi if it kills her, damn it - and Sam grabs a pillow on the floor. Everyone else orders pizza and drinks soda, but Sam always makes sure to bring food he can eat, so that's not a problem.

They watch the _Star Trek_ reboot and then _Avatar_ and then, because they're having way too much fun to stop, _Pitch Black_, which makes Quinn shriek with surprise a couple times and shriek with laughter when Puck jumps and yells at the tv when that thing with Fry happens toward the end.

Sam really, really missed this, hanging out and poking fun at the inconsistencies and analyzing the character motivations and just generally embracing his own geekiness. He loves being a popular football player, but sometimes all he wants is_this_, movie night and laughter and shared fun.

X.

Lauren's character beta is super helpful and Quinn cleans up the details nicely and the art he gets in the big bang is mindblowingly awesome and as soon as he posts, the feedback starts coming in.

Sam clicks through the other stories, saving some to read later, unable to sit still long enough to start now.

When he gets a text from Artie inviting him to another movie night, he doesn't even hesitate before he says yes.


End file.
